Private gun ownership soars in West Bank
Crime rates are rising in the West Bank, where illegal weapons are turning family feuds deadly.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights issued a warning Aug. 23 about an armament race between Palestinian families in the West Bank provoked by “their feeling of insecurity, weakness and lack of protection.”
Only the Palestinian security apparatus is allowed to own arms in the West Bank, according to the Oslo Accords. Nevertheless, Ammar Duweik, director general of the Independent Commission for Human Rights, told Al-Monitor, “Weapons are widely spreading among families in the [West Bank] areas under the control of the Palestinian Authority and under the protection of influential PA or Fatah figures.”
He noted that the increasing presence of arms is visible in the rising crime in the West Bank. He said, "The commission has documented 33 murders, most of them using firearms, since the beginning of 2020, recording a 40% increase compared to 2019.”
Since the beginning of 2020, cities and camps in the West Bank have been the scenes of family feuds during which arms were widely used. The fighting resulted in deaths and injuries and reveal the Palestinian security apparatus' inability to control the proliferation of arms in the West Bank.
